At 89 years old, Julio César Pinto went to the Family Prosecutor's Office in West Panama to report that he had been beaten and thrown out of his own home by his stepson. However, instead of receiving immediate attention, the elderly man waited for over seven hours to be heard, turning his violence complaint into a second form of institutional abuse.
Pinto, visibly affected by his physical condition, went to the facilities of the Family Prosecutor's Office of the Public Ministry in West Panama with the purpose of filing a complaint for alleged physical abuse against his stepson, whom he accuses of assaulting him with blows and then expelling him from his home, leaving him without a place to live. The complaint sought to activate the protection mechanisms that the State must guarantee to elderly victims of family violence.
He was not only there to report an aggression and a forced eviction from his own home, but he also found a system that, in his words, did not react with the sensitivity that a case involving a person in a vulnerable situation requires. "A person does not go to the Prosecutor's Office for fun, they go because they need protection," he stated, while questioning that despite his advanced age, he had to remain for so many hours without a timely response.
The case has generated concern among residents of West Panama, who assure that it is not an isolated situation. Citizens consulted point out that complaints related to delays, lack of guidance, and absence of priority criteria in the care of elderly victims of violence or citizens with urgent needs within some Public Ministry offices are frequent.
The concern is not limited to waiting time, but also to the institutional treatment received by those seeking help.
